THE chief of staff to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dubbed rumours of a “consuming obsession” between the pair offensive.

But Abbott has so far refused to comment on claims revealed in an explosive new book about the pair’s eyebrow-raising interactions, but has called it gossip.

The Australian journalist Niki Savva claimed in her book, Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government that Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin fed her boss food off her fork in an Italian restaurant in Melbourne and rested her head on his shoulder because she was tired.

A Liberal source refuted the claims to The Sunday Telegraph, saying Abbott doesn’t even eat carbs.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Credlin told friends the story of hand feeding was “laughable” and “offensive”.

After details in Savva’s book were revealed, Abbott and Ms Credlin said Ms Savva did not contact either of them to verify whether rumours of an affair were true.

“After 16 years in politics I’ve always made it my practise not to comment on gossip or stories from unnamed sources,” Ms Credlin told The Sunday Telegraph.

“Sadly, modern politics is full of both. So I’m hardly going to change this practise especially when the so-called journalist didn’t make any effort to contact me. This book says a lot more about her lack of ethics than it will ever say about me.”

According to Abbott, his office was not contacted for comment either but would not respond to “scurrilous” gossip.

The book reveals how at one point, NSW Liberal MP Concetta Fierravanti-Wells tried to discuss the rumours with Abbott.

“Politics is about perceptions,” she is quoted as saying to Abbott.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said details in a new book was gossip. Picture: Toby ZernaSource:News Corp Australia

“Rightly or wrongly, the perception is that you are sleeping with your chief of staff. That’s the perception, and you need to deal with it.

“I am here because I care about you, and I care about your family, and I feel I need to tell you the truth, the brutal truth. This is what your colleagues really think.”

Abbott told her any suggestions of an affair were not true.

The senator also told Credlin to resign and said “one day, Tony will be sitting on a park bench in Manly feeding the pigeons, and he will blame you.”

The Sunday Telegraph reported Ms Savva admitted she did not make contact with Ms Credlin or Abbott to discuss rumours.

“Past experience has taught me that their version of events is vastly different to everyone else’s,” she said.

“And nothing has changed. Mr Abbott has a platform where he can go out any day, any night, and give his version of history. And he does. What I wanted to do is give people a voice who didn’t have a voice for years.”

The book will be released tomorrow.

Abbott is preparing to recontest his seat of Warringah at the next election.

The Sunday Telegraph reported Ms Savva’s husband, a long-serving Liberal staffer, now works for Malcolm Turnbull and Ms Savva’s critics accused her of releasing the book early to disrupt any chance of Abbott making a comeback.